Glaus in Winner’s Circle

What lies ahead is so much more intriguing.

On Tuesday, the Angels could only face what was right in front of them.

That was the Detroit Tigers, last in the American League Central, last in the majors in scoring, and first in the majors in errors.

A trip to New York and a wild-card showdown in Boston wait next week.

But here were the Tigers--on a night that for them, rated as a good one.

The Tigers, stubborn for once, took the Angels to 12 innings Tuesday night before Troy Glaus singled to left to drive in the winning run of a 7-6 victory in front of 19,694 at Edison Field.

Shawn Wooten, who had entered the game in the 10th as a pinch-hitter, scored from second after reaching on a double.

The game-winning RBI was the 16th of the season for Glaus--the most by any player in the American League.

Al Levine (4-2) pitched the 12th for the victory, which kept the Angels two games behind Seattle in the American League West and increased their lead over Boston in the wild-card race to two games.

They had to come back to do it.

The Tigers forced the Angels to extra innings, then managed to take a 6-5 lead in the 11th on a controversial call at the plate.

With one out and Shane Halter on first after a single, Carlos Pena drove the ball to left and Halter came all the way around to score a controversial run on a close play. The question was whether catcher Jose Molina made the tag on David Eckstein’s relay from Garret Anderson. Halter slid past the plate, but was coming back to touch it, and the Angel fans made it clear they thought the call was wrong.

Still, the Angels came back in the bottom of the 11th.

With runners on first and third and none out, Darin Erstad--sitting out with a sore right leg--came in to pinch-hit for Molina.

Erstad’s single off Juan Acevedo over the head of the shortstop into center tied the game by driving in Glaus, who had doubled to lead off the inning.

“It doesn’t matter who we’re playing, we’ve got to win,” Erstad said. “It was a tough one today. They scratched and clawed and so did we.”

One out later, the Angels had the bases loaded, but Eckstein’s shallow fly ball wasn’t deep enough to score a run, and Orlando Palmeiro grounded out to third to send it to the 12th.

The Angels had shut out Detroit on Monday, but even before the game, they swore they weren’t thinking of this weekend against Cleveland or next week’s Eastern trip.

A couple of players even called Detroit “a good team,” earning raised eyebrows.

“If you ever look ahead, you’re going to get beat,” shortstop Eckstein insisted.

Against the Tigers, it wasn’t so much the feeling they might get beat as that they might get dragged late into the night.

With the score tied, 5-5, after eight innings, Manager Mike Scioscia chose to use closer Troy Percival in the ninth.

He did his job, but the Angels’ chances in the ninth against Jeff Farnsworth slipped away.

Scott Spiezio reached base on an error with one out after Carlos Pena--a defensive replacement at first--fielded Spiezio’s grounder and tossed it awkwardly over the head of Farnsworth, covering first.

Molina singled, but Spiezio was thrown out at third.

Another single by Adam Kennedy moved Molina to second.

But Alex Ochoa popped up to end the inning, and that meant extra innings.

With Percival already expended, Ben Weber came in to start the 10th, and despite allowing two runners to reach base, he struck out pinch-hitter George Lombard with a runner on second to end the inning.

The game began with the Angels’ streak of 22 innings without giving up a run ending quickly.

After consecutive shutouts anchored by starters Jarrod Washburn and Kevin Appier, Aaron Sele’s prospects of helping the club manage a third in a row for the first time since 1974 evaporated in the first inning when the Angels quickly fell behind, 2-0.